Heartaches and Mistakes
by SkippingSteppingStones
Summary: Out of options, Luke is forced to join with Vader and a group of stormtroopers to get off of an uninhabited planet, off the beaten path. Of course, nothing can ever be easy, and Luke discovers that sometimes, when people say they "want your help", they're actually just invested in you not dying in the middle of nowhere. ONESHOT


A/N The pet "saur" Luke gets in this story looks like a tiny brontosaurus, the size and weight of a golden retriever, + long neck and tail, and covered in brightly coloured feathers. I made them up. They sense emotions, and this one REALLY HATES ANGER.

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

Luke reluctantly followed his father into the Imperial camp, looking around at the imperial troops. This was about the last place he wanted to be, he reflected, as a couple suddenly noticed him in their midst, and quickly looked away again. Fidgeting nervously with his pant leg, he thought that at least Vader hadn't taken it upon himself to cuff him.

Not as if he was going to be able to get away, of course, but it _was_ good to be able to move properly.

As they marched through the camp, he began to consider asking Vader where they were going, but managed to hold his tongue. Soon enough, Vader guided him into a tent, and indicated a cot, which Luke dropped his bag on.

In the time it took him to do so, Vader vanished. A bit lost for what to do next, he sat down, and started digging through his bag for a fresh pair of socks, the swamp having thoroughly saturated the last ones as he'd searched for a way off planet, after crashing his x-wing.

 _That_ had been frustrating.

He was half way through pulling on the second one, when his father suddenly reappeared, with a strange creature walking ahead of him, unleashed, but walking with it's long neck bent, clearly submissive to the Sith. Vader stopped at the opening of the tent, and the creature looked back at him with an air of sad uncertainty. Vader waved the creature towards Luke, and it slowly plodded forwards on stubby legs.

"What's this?" Luke asked, looking at it strangely as it carefully nuzzled his stomach, looking up at him with big, soft eyes, its bright feathers sticking up in many directions.

"As long as you are with the Empire," Vader began, but Luke cut him off.

"Hey, I'm not _with_ the Empire," Luke said, "Just because I've agreed to do what I can to get us all _off_ this rock _doesn't_ make me your ally."

"You will have to make yourself useful," Vader continued, as if Luke hadn't spoken.

"I am!" Luke said, although his hand automatically cupped the curiously prodding creature's head, "That's _why_ you agreed to let me go after all this!"

Suddenly, the creature let out an alarmed squawk, and closed its beak on his hand. With a yelp, he pulled back, staring at it in surprise.

"It does not take well to anger," Vader said passively, watching the scene, "You would do well to keep that in mind."

"Thanks…" Luke said sarcastically, rubbing at his hand, and still looking uncertainly at the creature, "A warning _before_ it bit me would have been nice."

At his continued frustration, the fluffy lizard gave a slow hiss, a dark blue tongue poking out of its beak. Hurriedly, Luke attempted to clamp down on his emotions, and it slowly lowered its head.

"I expect you to make some progress with it before we get off-world," Vader said.

Luke looked up sharply, "Progress with it? I thought I was supposed to be helping you get a ship working!"

"You do not believe my men can do better than an untrained teenager?" Vader asked dangerously.

"But that was the whole point of joining forces!"

"Perhaps I felt it would be a waste to leave you stumbling around a swamp until you were inevitably eaten," Vader said, turning to leave, "Be glad there was any job for you at all."

Luke found himself lost for words as the Sith turned, and left the tent. Stunned, he slowly sank down onto the cot, his gaze never leaving the tent flap.

Suddenly, he felt a heavy weight fall on his knee, and looked down sharply to find the saur, giving him the wide-eyed innocent look from before, its long neck dipping down from its shoulders before raising again to meet his gaze.

"You'd better not bite me again," he said, trying to exert some of the authority that oozed from his father.

The animal gave an uncertain chortle, tipping its head and looking at him with concern in its eyes.

Luke sighed, petting its head again, "Fine, I'm not really mad with _you_."

Immediately, his new pet's beak fell open, and its tongue lolled out as it started trying to scrabble its way onto the cot.

Luke rolled his eyes, getting up and helping to heave its mass onto the bed, where it promptly sat down, looking very proud of itself.

In spite of himself, Luke smiled at it, sitting down again, only to find its long neck promptly resting across the back of his, and its nose nudging into his ear, tickling him.

He laughed, pushing it out as it snorted affectionately, "I don't know what he expects me to do with you," he said, "You seem tame enough to me."

Immediately, the feathery lizard licked at his cheek again, and Luke shook his head, scratching behind its ears as he dug out some rations. Crumbling them in his hand, he offered them to the saur, which began eagerly nibbling them from his palm.

Watching it, he shook his head, "I guess that's a start, huh?"

Finishing its snack, the saur curled up on the bed, and Luke resumed stroking it slowly as he looked towards the tent flap, waiting for Vader to reappear, or anything of substance to happen.

"Luke."

Luke jumped, his eyes springing open, and he found Vader standing at the opening to the tent. _Kriff it!_ he thought, _I must have fallen asleep! I didn't realize I was tired enough to…_

Vader stepped into the tent, and Luke automatically scrambled back, waking the sleeping saur, which flopped over clumsily against him again, looking up at Vader.

"I see you've made great progress," Vader said flatly, gesturing to the creature.

"Progress?" Luke asked automatically, as his pet began trying to burrow its head into his tunic, clearly not thrilled at the prospect of dealing with the Sith again.

"It has never been known to sleep near other beings," Vader answered, gesturing to it, "You must have shown it an exemplary sense of calm."

Luke paused in the midst of trying to deflect the saur's attempt to get its head up his sleeve to stare at Vader, "Well… it _is_ supposed to be my job, as a Jedi…"

Vader nodded serenely, and Luke's spine crawled for a moment. There was definitely something more than Vader was saying. He was being _way_ too kind.

"Anyway," Luke said doubtfully, trying to get rid of Vader, "Did you decide this "untrained teenager" could be helpful with the ship?"

"Come," Vader said simply, turning away from the tent once more.

Pulled onwards, mostly by curiosity, he told himself, Luke stood up to follow, and the saur hopped off the cot to follow.

"No, go back to bed," Luke told it, but Vader shook his head.

Utterly confused about what was going on, Luke put his hand on the animal's back, stroking its slowly as he hurried after Vader, who lead the two of them towards the downed, but still reparable, transport ship.

Secretly, Luke let out an exhalation of relief. Finally. Something he was actually skilled with. But Vader led him past the breaches in the hull, and into a small hold, where he gestured to Luke to sit down.

Doing as he was told, Luke was surprised when his pet didn't return to his side, instead joining Vader in pacing, nudging him in the same curious way it had Luke.

Which wasn't half as surprising as the fact that Vader _allowed_ it.

"The tent was not as secure as this conversation demands," Vader explained, turning to Luke at last, as the creature continued to waddle ponderously around him.

 _Oh boy,_ Luke thought, _Here it comes_.

Vader gestured to the creature, which took the opportunity to close its dull beak on Vader's bulky glove. For a moment, Vader seemed a bit distracted the nibbling saur, before he said, "Trusting you with this creature was hardly a coincidence."

"I noticed," Luke said, before he could think better of it, "You're as subtle as a freighter crash."

Immediately, he felt a wave of incredulity roll off of Vader, before the Sith suddenly gave a deep, rasping chuckle.

"Am I supposed to take it that you would be any more skilled?"

Luke felt himself turn red, "I'm no liar."

"And no more subtle than a freighter crash," Vader echoed, and Luke could sense his smile.

Uncertainly, he returned it, shaking his head, "This is not what I was expecting when you said you needed me to come with you. Why'd you give me this guy?"

He indicated his pet, which had rested its head on Vader's crossed arms, clicking in comfort.

Vader freed one hand to slowly scratch behind its ears, as Luke had done, "I wished to prove that I was not acting out of hatred of you."

"You've got a really roundabout way of it," Luke said.

"Perhaps. Nonetheless, I must request that you join me in a mission that is less than safe."

"Isn't my whole life?" Luke raised an eyebrow sarcastically.

"Be that as it may, you haven't seemed particularly enthusiastic to aide me," Vader answered, gently turning the purring saur's head towards Luke, to show that it had not sensed hatred in his intentions, "We must work together if we are to defeat the emperor."

"I already…" Luke began, before being overcome with a horrible memory of Bespin, and falling silent for a moment as a shiver ran down his spine, "I can't… I can't put you in charge with a clear conscience."

The saur pulled away from Vader, plodding over to Luke, and nuzzling its soft, feathery head against Luke in comfort. Allowing himself to be distracted by its affections, Luke carefully brushed a few of its feathers through his fingers. When he looked up, he found that Vader had taken a step nearer, as if he had wished to come to his comfort as well.

"You would not be," the mechanical voice rumbled at last.

"No?" Luke asked, "Because I'm pretty sure that's the Sith's job. To kill their master and take their power for themselves."

In his arms, the saur gave a small, distressed whimper, and Luke sighed, releasing his anger as he returned his attention to it.

"I have no interest in running the galaxy," Vader answered.

"Then why did you ever do all this?" Luke asked, without looking up from the feathery head in his hands, "Did you get bored, and decide dismantling a democracy and replacing it with a corrupt Emperor would be a good use of your time?"

"I'm sure that you've heard many great things about the Old Republic," Vader said, "But it was far from perfect."

"It was better than what _you've_ built to replace it!" Luke said angrily, looking up, and feeling the saur's ears flatten under his fingers at his frustration.

"This empire was not my plan!" Vader snapped, causing the saur to give a whimper of defeat, and deflate on the floor, its head slipping from Luke's hands as it gave in to the anger of both men.

Vader gave a crackling sigh, and Luke felt a hot wave of anger as Vader clearly attempted to release his.

"I planned only to learn to save your mother from death," Vader said at last, "And to rid the galaxy of the corrupt politicians who plagued it. Palpatine was never meant to live this long."

"You were just going to start over?" Luke asked incredulously, "Completely rebuild the Republic? Wouldn't it have been easier to fix what was already there?"

"Oh, no, child," Vader said, "I planned an for an Empire. But not one with Palpatine in charge."

"But you said you didn't want to run the galaxy!" Luke looked up from the saur, which was slowly regaining its strength, now that their anger had dissipated, only to find that his father was still watching it.

"Not me," he said, suddenly sounding very old and tired.

"Then who?" Luke asked softly.

Vader looked up, meeting Luke's eyes before quickly looking away again, "Your mother."

"My _mother?!_ " Luke demanded, "Did she want _this?!"_

"No," Vader said quickly, his gaze returning to his son, "She would have _never_ wanted this."

"Then why did you think you could put her in charge of the galaxy?" Luke asked as the saur picked itself up off the floor, putting its nose in his hand, and snuffling reassuringly.

"I was desperate," Vader said, "I saw corruption in the Senate, in the Jedi Order, in everything that was supposed to hold the galaxy together in peace… And I imagined that I could do better. With your mother at my side, I imagined I could fix everything."

"Why, exactly, do you think this'll work better with your son?" Luke asked pointedly, standing up at last.

He could feel Vader's pained smile radiating throughout the room, and for a moment, vaguely wondered if he might have been picking up on the saur's powers, "Because this time, I won't do whatever the hell I think I should."

Luke paused finally, a bit surprised at how far from his usual stern professionalism Vader had slipped, before he nodded slightly, "I guess… that's a good start, at least."

"You are uncertain, though," Vader observed, cautiously offering his hand, clearly remembering what a mistake that usually-comforting gesture had been last time he'd tried it.

Luke sighed, before reaching out, and grasping the leather glove tightly for a moment, before quickly releasing once more. Feeling Vader waiting for some further response, he exhaled sharply again, and managed, "That wasn't too bad."

He felt Vader's smile fill the small room again, and knew that he was returning it. _Definitely a weird way to first share a smile with your parent,_ he thought, before the saur was bumping its head against his arm again, and he fluffed up its feathers, before heading for the door, "Are you SURE there's nothing this untrained teenager can do to help out?"

Vader chuckled once more, following him out as the saur almost pranced along beside them, "Perhaps I can find something for you."

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

A/N Hi, readers! This is my four year anniversary on ! I've written over 500,000 words on this account, and while I've enjoyed every moment of it, it's time for me to turn over a new leaf! My previous writing has been riddled with problems (it was my start, what can I say?) my characterization was iffy at best, some of my stuff REALLY needed trigger warnings, and I COMPLETELY misunderstood the whole ratings system. YAY ME.

I have over 100 stories, though, and while I've removed one that I was absolutely ashamed to be associated with anymore, I don't wanna try to fix or remove the others, as people enjoy them, or whatever.

HOWEVER! I am retiring this account. It's been fun! I am NOT disappearing forever, though! I will be renaming this account (I had a really great idea last night, but, of course, did not write it down), and starting a new one with this name! I will continue posting Star Wars fanfiction EXCLUSIVELY from the new account named "StarWarrior72". I will be starting ANOTHER account, called "StarsCrossedOver", provided the name is available, which will feature my ALL NEW VERY EXCITING CROSSOVER FANFICTION! These accounts WILL NOT MENTION THIS ONE! I will, however, leave a link to them in this one's profile.

My new accounts will, I hope, exhibit better awareness of curation, content, rating, characterization, yada yada yada. I hope to see you all there!

Lots of love,

Star


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